Workers have spoken of finding syringes, broken glass, used sex toys, and clothing covered in blood and faeces, as they sort through the donations.

WorkSafe said earlier this week it would investigate health and safety standards.

First Union organiser Graham McKean told Checkpoint that while investigators were at the New Lynn store today, the 10 union members at the store were given four weeks notice of redundancy.

"We've got a whole bunch of union members - and they're all women - who have commitments, children, some of them are solo mothers and they're distraught and don't know where to turn. We now have to navigate through that."

When asked why Checkpoint was only allowed to speak with non-union members in New Lynn, Mr Doonan said he thought RNZ had already spoken to union members earlier this week and he thought union members were there during Checkpoint's visit.